I have been doing trips for 12 years, since I was 15 and did an Outward Bound Course in the BWCA. I know what I eat, I've refined it and put a lot of thought into it over the years...but what does everyone else eat? Do you use the pre-packaged camping food? Do you bring in fresh meat? Do you live on powdered everything and hope you catch some walleye? We want to know. The more responces I read the more tips I'll share.

Here is a good tip. Powdered milk isn't very good, but a nice way to get it a little creamier is to mix in about 15% coffee creamer. It makes the final product taste more like 2% than skim. Enjoy!

Max L.

Well, I totally agree on your cheese post, although heavy, it makes for great "fuel".

The tuna??? doesn't the BWCAW provide fish there?

Your redbeans and rice post was interesting... I never thought to bring garlic bulbs... what was I thinking?
Doesn't it take too long to rehydrate the rice and beans though?

OK, we usually bring a little summer sausage for lunch snacking. Oranges take up some food back space for at least a day. Gorp... consisting of m&m's dried fruit and berries and an assortment of nuts... about a gallon a week for 3-4 people. Breakfasts are always instant oats, coco wheats, or grit's with a handfull of gorp... an some cowboy coffee.

Dehydrated Ground venison, ground beef, pasta sauce, salsa, baked beans, green beans, onion, red and green pepper, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, brockoly, cauliflour, green peas (canned), corn.

Pasta's (orozo, angel hair, and couscous)
Corn meal
flour
corn or potatoe starch
Refried beans (dried)
Veggie Chili (dried)
Rice, either basimiti or minute.
A sechwan veggie noodle dish (I mix and make with ramen noodles, recipe available upon request)
Instant mashed potatoes (read: emergency rations)

Dehydrated eggs
(I make a dish with dried onions, mashed potatoes, and the eggs that was supposed to be potatoe pancakes that didn't pan out right... so now it's an anual "fuel paste" meal that is actually expected and requested to be there)

Coolaid mix
Soft taco shells or burito wraps.

Then a spice bag including tomatoe, chicken, beef, and veggie soup stocks.... and whatever else we decide to bring that year. (And this year, fresh garlic)

Olive oil.

Then we just mix and match from their usually making a couple soups and pasta dishes and spiced up fish.


I'm always looking for something else to make... keep the post's comming.

Hex

My favorite is fajitas.
Dehydrated beef, peppers, onion and a packet of fajita mix. Reconstitute everything and pour out some of the water. Put in the mix cook until thick. A little hot sauce for the kick. Good to go!

Any extra ingredents make good breakfast burritos.

I'll have to try that... But, I'm more of a seagull man myself.

A tradition I have been maintaining with peopl I go with, and we've been doing this for about ten years is to make pizza.

We use the dough mix that just needs water, use pre-made pizza sauce (we take it out of hte glass jar and put it in God know's howm any zip-loc bags because you don't want that spilling out in your foodpack!), and then bring pepperoni and shredded cheese. The cheese will get a little distorted from melting, but we've never had it go bad.

When you cook it, you need a woodfire that you build up so you have plenty of coals.

It's best if you use the metal plates from cook kits, the 6 or 8 inch plates, and make individual pizzas, although we have made larger ones that worked well, too. The key is getting the fire hot enough, construct your pizza in the pan and then have another pan to put over the top of it, essentially making adutch oven.

It's always been a great treat in the middle of a trip.

We're spoiled. First couple days, (we stick to spring and fall, so it's cooler weather) we bring in pre-cooked frozen pork chops, foil dinners, etc. with really delicious meats for the carnivores. The foil bags of tuna are really great, we now love to make tuna melts with pita pockets. Next trip is going to be more vegan...wondering how to bring garbanzo beans, once they are "uncanned", will they spoil? Anyone know if you can get them "foil-packed" ala the tuna? More fresh foods in foil packs is what we need!!!

The Vigo brand beans/rice combos will come in handy...
but any tips from vegans/vegis out there for a high energy diet (we're not in it for the fishing by the way) would be appreciated!

For a vegan diet consider buying bulk freeze dried ingredients from www.adventurefoods.com. We mostly mixed up our own meals using their veggies and beans (chili, pasta (red and pesto), felafel (baked in a bakepacker which should be practiced at home), japanese rice bowls (flavored with ginger and wasabi powders), chinese rice bowls (flavored with soy sauce and dry sherry powder), hot and sour soup. Asian groceries are another good source for dry ingredients. It would have been much less work, but less fun, to only buy prepackaged meals. We did also buy pizza and baked ziti packages from them.

For garbanzo beans we eat ours either as hummus or felafel both of which were made from store bought powders.

Finally, we grew sprouts in a hemp bag we got from Adventure Foods. It was nice, but not critical, to have some fresh greens late in the trip.

After the first 5 days we also baked bread daily. Either by bakepacker mixes from Adventure Foods or get her cookbook (The Bakepacker Companion) and make up your own mixes. We did both. Hot whole wheat garlic bread while watching sunset in the BWCA defines decadence. The bakepacker has to be my favorite 4 ounces in my pack.

Cheers,
Andy

I dont camp enough in the rough,(actually first trip to the bwca) so I am wondering just what the outfitter is giving me that everyonen has a problem with. Should I tell them we dont want a food pack and just take sausege and cheese with fixing for the fish after all that is what we are really planning on eating. I could probably get food packs at galyans or cabela's

mitretnuh-

If this is your first trip I would go with the food suggested by the outfitter, or an experienced friend. Generally, the freeze-dried stuff is easy and at least somewhat edible. Fish is always the plan, but rarely (in my experience) provides enough food to actually live on.

Nothing wrong with the stuff the outfitter packs... they give you a choice and I've never been "burned" that I couldn't eat what they provided...
I was usually so hungry from paddling that I ate what we had and was satisfied..... But, personally, I don't complain much anyway...
I'd go with the outfitter's choices, they know what most people can handle....through feedback...
After going on several trips we've decided, this year, to do our own outfitting....and want to try a combination of fresh meat dinners and freeze dried...via the BWJ poly food box.
Woodpecker

Breakfast Burritos are at the top of my list. I like to bring a few potatoes even though they are fairly heavy. I cut a potato or two into small pieces and drop in a pan over the fire with some oil. After they are well cooked I add a few eggs, a couple pieces of bacon or summer sausage, and whatever else we happen to have handy. Finally dump the mixture into a couple tortilla shells. There are a lot of variations available, if we have fish available we will add some of that instead of the other meats. This is a great meal to have on the last day because you can add any leftovers that are sitting in the pack and they will probably taste great!

On past trips I too have taken potatos and highly recommend them if you like potatos. We wouldn't cook them tough, they just keep for a long time and we would just have a couple of medium sized potatos for a couple meals. Potatos will raise your blood sugar more than eating the same amount of pure sugar so you will get pretty hungry soon after but they give tons of energy.

My two current favs.
1. Idahoan instant mashed potatoes.
Light weight, easy to use (just add water)
& tasts great.
2. Bear Creek Dam Good Chili
Zing it up some and it's a good hot meal

Question for all of you.
When paking food we always repackage everything we can.
For example...dump out the instant spuds into a ziplock
bag with a cut-out of the cooking instructions.
Seems to save on space and is nice to have an extra ziplock
at dinner time...ie...shake up the fish in before cooking.

Does anyone else do this?

I also re-package.

We also re-package.

Much more organized, much less trash to pack out.

I was just at the store and I cannot believe the food that is available now that would work for BW. Stag chili in a box heat and eat, Tuna fish in a foil package. They will make it much easier to pack good tasting food. Has anyone used these foods?